Help Me To Breathe
by Calophi
Summary: A collections of pieces exploring the platonic relationship of Kikyou and Kagome. Latest: During the final confrontation with Naraku, Kagome is the last one standing, yet she is not alone.
1. The Game

**Author's Notes: **I know a lot of you are waiting for me to update The Untouchable, but I'm finding that very difficult. I joined iy no kakera over at livejournal to hopefully help inspire me to get back to my longer pieces, so please be patient and support my drapples also:)

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**Title:** The Game  
**LJ Community:** iy no kakera  
**Theme:** Set #2, Theme #12 (It is Forced)  
**Genres:** General  
**Pairings:** implied Inuyasha/Kagome, implied Inuyasha/Kikyou  
**Rating:** G  
**Summary:** Kagome and Kikyou have formed an alliance, though they are far from friends.

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The friendly smiles, the polite conversations – it was all a game for them. It was easier to think of it that way. It took less time, and they had precious little time left. 

They realized that if they could learn to cooperate, great things could be accomplished.

Being together could bring hope to and raise the morale of others.

Being together could allow them to obtain the power to defeat their enemies.

Being together would ease the mind of the one they loved, who worried while they were not near him.

Traveling alongside one another was a necessity. The game just made it more bearable. It gave them a reason to tuck away the pain.

_It's for a good cause._

But the game was also blinding them, for all each could see was that the other's kind actions were forced for the sake of the game.


	2. A Will To Live

**Author's Notes: **I know a lot of you are waiting for me to update The Untouchable, but I'm finding that very difficult. I joined iy no kakera over at livejournal to hopefully help inspire me to get back to my longer pieces, so please be patient and support my drapples also:)

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**Title:** A Will to Live  
**LJ Community:** iy no kakera  
**Theme:** Set #2, Theme #2 (Scar)  
**Genres:** General, Introspective  
**Rating:** G  
**Summary:** After pondering her current situation, Kikyou finds the strength to move on.

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She sits against a tree, staring silently towards the sky as her shinidamachuu circle overhead, dropping glowing blue souls for her body to absorb.

The souls sunk into her almost eagerly, and Kikyou frowns in disgust. This horrible body, made of soil and twisted magic, is becoming too much to handle. The rage that had consumed her when she had first risen from the dead has now faded completely. She has nothing left of her own to keep her body moving, and no matter how many souls enter it, she still finds it troublesome to move and needs to pause often for rest.

_Maybe I should just give up. Maybe it is time for me to leave this world._

She places a hand on her chest. There should be a scar there – a deep void of a scar, oozing filth and poison. Instead, the scar has vanished and the void has been replaced with a feeling of warmth and comfort.

It annoys the priestess to feel that warmth – that small piece of soul that Kagome had left behind.

"_Don't give up,"_ it tells her, urging her on as it often did during times like these. _"Live on. You must live."_

"Foolish girl," Kikyou whispers. She is sure Kagome has no idea how much power it is taking her to leave behind her soul, even as miniscule a piece as this. However, for such an event to occur, the power needs to be given over willingly. Kagome honestly does want Kikyou to live.

"She truly is a fool," the priestess repeats, yet she gives in to the silent coaxing and pushes herself from the ground, her dirt-filled joints creaking and groaning in protest. She moves forward, moves onward, one hand always touching the invisible scar on her chest.

After all, it would be a sin to ignore such a precious gift – the gift of life.


	3. The Chosen Birth

**Title:** The Chosen Birth  
**LJ Community**: iy no kakera  
**Theme:** Set #2, Theme #94: Place of Birth  
**Genres:** General, maybe drama?  
**Pairings:** none  
**Rating:** G  
**Summary:** Kikyou has seen many births since her death, but this would be her last.

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Kikyou's head lifted slightly when she felt the twinge in her mind – the twinge that alerted her to the birth of someone who would be important in the world. She had been to many such births since she had arrived into Nirvana centuries ago: Beethoven, Einstein, King, and many, many others. 

Such births were a momentous occasion. Souls from all the realms of Nirvana would hover above the labouring mother, watching history in the making and looking on in wonder as the chosen soul enters the child destined for great things, giving to it the breath of life it needed to survive.

Sometimes it was a completely fresh soul, newly spun from the web of chaos. Other times it was a reincarnated soul from Nirvana – a soul wanting to go back to the Earth and lend guidance to its people.

In all these 500 years, Kikyou had never once expressed a wish to return to the Earth. Her soul was beyond pure, and it never should have been. Because of that girl, she had been given a second chance and was able to die peacefully. She could have reincarnated and been back by now, but she steadfastly refused to let another taint her pristine soul before it could be given to the one who deserved it most.

The former priestess cleared her thoughts and relocated herself to the hospital room of the child, and was surprised to see no other souls in the room. How could no others feel this ache, the one that touched the very core of her soul?

The mother grunted and with a final heave managed to push the child out far enough that the doctor could assist with the rest. The room was eerily silent, and as the doctor began the procedure for clearing out the child's fluid-filled lungs Kikyou surveyed the room desperately. Where was the occupying soul? For a child this important, a chosen birth, a soul would have been prepared!

The doctors were getting more frantic now – the child had not taken its first breath. Kikyou felt as if she were being torn apart. Surely, this child would die if no soul entered it soon! Why would a child who would impact the world this much have no chosen soul?

She couldn't wait any longer for the chosen soul to arrive. She had to save this baby – she couldn't let it die while she watched and did nothing. She let herself be pulled towards the child, its body absorbing her essence, and a feeling of euphoria swept over her before she lost herself in its flesh, never to awaken as Kikyou again.

The doctors were elated as the child suddenly sputtered and coughed. It was alive! They had saved this baby! They passed the wailing infant to its exhausted and radiant mother, who stroked its head softly.

"There, there; Mama's here, my precious Kagome."


	4. Two Draw the Arrow

**Title:** Two Draw the Arrow  
**LJ Community:** iy no kakera  
**Theme:** Set #2, Theme #99 - Participating Together  
**Genres:** Drama/WaFF (what, don't YOU feel warm and fuzzy?)  
**Pairings:** None meant to be there, though some, I suppose, could pull out IY/Kag and IY/Kik if they wanted  
**Rating: **G  
**Summary:** During the final confrontation with Naraku, Kagome is the last one standing, yet she is not alone.

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Kagome stood in the middle of the destroyed clearing, her breathing harsh and ragged. The bodies of her friends lay strewn about the battlefield – some dead, some dying – but now was not the time to mourn them. Now she had to be strong.

The gaping wound in her chest, given to her by Naraku to match the one he had given Kikyou so many months before, continued to ooze blood. She was only still standing because she was able to purify the shouki that would have poisoned her. Grunting slightly, she somehow managed to heft her bow with her weary limbs and aim at Naraku once again. She did not realize it, but her resigned, battle-worn countenance caused her to look more like Kikyou than she ever had before.

"The gods are cruel, aren't they?" Naraku mused coolly, as though he hadn't just had half his body blown away by the power of a priestess. "They created you to be so similar to Kikyou in body and spirit, just to force you to atone for her sins, love as she loved, suffer in her shadow, and die by my hands as she did."

He was trying to incite her anger and cause her to doubt. At one time, it may have worked. She had often wondered if Inuyasha would have stayed by her side initially if she hadn't resembled Kikyou. But it didn't matter anymore; it was in the past. Inuyasha had learned that Kagome was Kagome. Kikyou had atoned for her own sins and sacrificed more than Kagome could ever have imagined. Her expression hardened and she readied her attack.

"No," she said firmly. "The gods created me to be similar to Kikyou so that, through me, she might defeat you once and for all."

Before Naraku's eyes had a chance to widen, Kagome let loose her last arrow. As her consciousness slipped into oblivion, she silently thanked the feminine, ghostly hands that had supported her bow and helped her to aim true.


End file.
